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Kendama
A kendama (けん玉 also written as 剣玉 and 拳玉) is a Japanese toy that consists of a hammer-like object with a ball connected to it by a string. Kendama play consists of catching and spearing the ball in various ways or performing various juggles, balances or position sequences. A book published by the Japan Kendama Association describes 100 "wazas" and an article in a JKA publication diagrams over 2,000. A Japanese maker of competition kendamas says that 30,000 exist. Most people play with kendamas for personal satisfaction, but competitions take place, especially in Japan, in which lists of wazas must be performed in sequence, wazas must be performed repeatedly for as long as possible or wazas must be performed head to head with a rival until one fails to complete a waza. The game is known by many names around the world, including ring and pin, cup-and-ball, bilboquet, and balero. Parts of a Kendama The ball—called a tama (玉) —has a hole in it, and it rests on a spike (the ken) on the top of the kendama. The hammer-shaped handle is called the ken (剣, lit. "sword"). The two extending sides of the ken are concave cups; one is smaller than the other. The larger cup is called the ōzara (大皿, lit. "large dish") and the smaller cup is called the kozara (小皿, lit. "small dish"). There is also an even smaller cup called the ''chūzara (中皿, lit. "middle dish") at the bottom of the handle. '' The 3-cup kendama design dates back to design patent obtained in the early 20th century, but the current form of Japanese kendamas was set in the mid 1970s when a nonprofit organization was established to preserve and promote the toy. Origins and history The origins of the game are obscure. It may have been invented independently in multiple places, or it may have spread around via international commerce. It is known in places as diverse as the Arctic, France, and Peru. The French game is called bilboquet which was played as early as the 16th century. The game was popular in the royal courts of Europe, where players caught a swinging ball in a cup at the end of the handle. In North America, the game was both a child's toy and a gambling mechanism for adults, and involved catching a ring rather than a ball. In some native American tribes it was even a courtship device, where suitors would challenge the objects of their interest to a polite game of ring and pin. The Mohave variant of the game included up to 17 extra rings attached to the cord, and game scoring involved differing point values assigned to different rings. Other variants include those played by the Inuit of what is now Labrador, with a rabbit's skull in place of the ball, with extra holes bored into it, which had to be caught on the handle like a skewer; and those that used balls of grass or animal hair. This game was also popular in England during the early 1800s, as Jane Austen is reputed to have excelled while entertaining her brother's son in a game called bilbocatch.